Thursday, April 05, 2012
Court Gives New Life To Viacom-YouTube Copyright Case

A U.S. appeals court has revived lawsuits by Viacom the
English Premier League, and other film studios and TV
networks accusing Google of allowing copyrighted videos
on YouTube.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday
reversed a June 2010 lower court
decision in favor of YouTube. The lower court judge
had ruled that YouTube was protected from copyright
infringement claims, and the safe harbor of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

In the Court Of Appeals, Judge Jose Cabranes concluded
that "a reasonable jury could find that YouTube had
actual knowledge or awareness of specific infringing
activity on its website."

Lawyers have been debated whether the 1998 Digital
Millennium Copyright Act shields a company like YouTube
from broad copyright claims.

The appeals decision pertained to several lawsuits filed
against YouTube. Viacom claimed Youtube committed
"rampant copyright infringement" and others in which The
Football Association Premier League Ltd. and various film
studios and music publishers joined to challenge
YouTube's practices.
"We are pleased with the decision by the U.S. Court of
Appeals. The Court delivered a definitive, common sense
message - intentionally ignoring theft is not protected
by the law," VIAcom said in a statement.
The full text of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
decision is available here.

Despite their legal battles, Viacom and Youtube on
Wednesday announced a partnership to
offer online rentals of Paramount films. Viacom is the
parent company of Paramount Pictures Corporation.